The European Parliament’s carbon footprint, expressed in tonnes of CO2 equivalent, fell by 15% between 2006 and 2018 and by 37.7% when emissions are reported on the basis of the number of employees, says a report by the institution published on Monday 21 September.
The European Parliament’s goal of achieving a 40% reduction in emissions per person by 2024 will thus be achieved sooner than expected, the report says.
According to this document, of the 110,570 tonnes of CO2 equivalent emitted in 2018 by the Parliament, 99% comes from four categories: passenger transport (67%), energy consumed (14%), fixed assets (12%) and purchase of supplies and services (6%).
Within the ‘transport’ category, the main source of the Parliament’s emissions, subsidised visitor groups (whose visits are financially supported by the Parliament) are responsible for the majority of emissions (33%), with the remainder due to MEPs’ transport (19%) and staff transport (15%).
The report also points out that Parliament has significantly reduced emissions from its own fleet by using more efficient vehicles, such as plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles, by training drivers in eco-driving techniques and, in general, by increasing the efficiency of fleet management.
Finally, as regards recommendations, the document proposes, inter alia, to set a European Parliament emissions reduction target for 2030, to replace European Parliament visits by virtual visits or presentations of the institution’s work by liaison offices located in the visitors’ countries of origin, or to introduce new working conditions for staff by gradually increasing the use of teleworking, for example.
In the longer term, it recommends setting a carbon budget target for the institution and advocating a consensus among Member States in favour of a single seat for the Parliament.
See the report: https://bit.ly/3iRhgF0 (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)